flash-hammer's Full Review: Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II
Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
After the immense success of Godzilla Vs. Mothra at the Japanese box office, where it's ticket sales in 1993(it openend December 1992) were beaten only by another little film about dinosaurs called Jurassic Park, Toho Studios decided to carry on the trend of bringing back classic enemies re-invented to take on the King of the Monsters. With his two most popular adversaries already covered, Toho decided to take his last foe of the Showa era of Godzilla films, his cyborg doppleganger Mechagodzilla, and reinvent him for the 1990s. In addition to this, 2 other classic monsters were to appear in the film, in new renditions. It had been far too long since Rodan, Toho's second Kaiju had hit the screen, with his last original appearance taking place in 1968's Destroy All Monsters, and naturally it didn't take long before the son of Godzilla would re-appear to add some character to the monster, although Baby, as presented here, is a far stretch from Minya.
Sadly, for me anyway, the film that began life as Gojira VS Mekagojira wasn't released in the UK by Manga Live, as they had done with the previous two movies, so I had to wait until Tristar put it out on American VHS, in the build-up to their American remake/tragedy, and then their recent job of transferring it to DVD for Godzilla's 50th anniversary. It's this DVD I'm looking at for the purpose of this review, and it includes the film both dubbed and subtitled, the latter of which is the version I've watched most recently.
For some reason, I don't know why, Tristar decided to release the film in America under the title of Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II. While indeed, there already was a movie called Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, there was already a Godzilla Vs. Mothra, oh no, wait, Tristar renamed that movie Godzilla And Mothra: The Battle For Earth, but why Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II? that makes it sound like a sequel to the original movie, which it clearly isn't. Couldn't they have come up with a better title for the Western version? or more sensibley, stuck with the original title for Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, and released it as Godzilla Vs. The Cosmic Monster? For the sake of brevity, the film is going to be referred to in this review as Mechagodzilla.
Despite the fact the film is highly praised by many G-Fans, Mechagodzilla wasn't Toho's initial choice for Godzilla's next foe. Had everything gone to plan, this would actually have been a remake of King Kong Vs. Godzilla, but it would have cost too much to acquire the rights to Kong, so this idea was nixed. Toho's next idea was to use their robot Kong, Mechanikong, but that would still have required the rights for the Kong license, but it inspired the reintroduction of Mechagodzilla to the series.
However, this isn't the only place changes would be made, with many of the things planned for the film being canned en route to it hitting the big screen. Originally, the plot, written by series novice Wataru Mimura, who has subsequently penned most of the Godzilla movies from Godzilla 2000 onwards, saw two Rodans playing a part, one of which was to be killed early on by Mechagodzilla, explaining Rodan's justification for helping Godzilla a bit better, as well as providing a nice homage to the tragic element of Rodan. Sadly this device was removed, and Rodan's feelings of brotherhood with Baby, seeing as they were both mutated by the waste on Adona Island, being his motivation for helping Godzilla.
However, also intrigue spawning is the movie's poster. From Godzilla Vs. Biollante onwards, all of the Heisei era Godzilla movies sported two posters, an advance poster which was drawn, and the poster for the film's run, which was often a montage of the main players of the film. The drawn posters are incredibly well done, and are, in every case, leagues ahead of the actual photographic posters in terms of design, impact, and just plain cool. The poster for Mechagodzilla shows a MG design that is drastically different to the one that appears in the film. This MG looks more fierce, has a boxier head and large cannons where his hands should be. This design is awesome, and I can't believe Toho didn't use it. Strangely, the design did get an action figure produced, by Western toy company Trendmasters, whose much maligned line of Godzilla action figures spawned not only a really quite nifty and accurate Mechagodzilla, as he appears in this film, but also the poster design.
In the movie, we learn that the UN has set up the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center, based in Japan, naturally. This organisation concerns itself with trying to create measures to stop Godzilla, the first of which was a giant air-battlecraft dubbed 'Garuda'. However, Garuda did not have the combat capabilities that would be required to kill Godzilla, so work on 'Project 2' took place, where scientists salvaged the wreck of the Mecha-King Ghidorah from the bottom of the sea to study it's technology to learn secrets, and the result was a giant robot built in Godzilla's image. This 'Mechagodzilla' is designed to be piloted by a crew of 4, and is equipped with numerous high-tech weapons to try and defend Japan against Godzilla's attacks.
The man who designed the Garuda, Kazuma Aoki(Masahiro Takashima - Gunhead) is re-assigned to the G-Force, the pilots responsible for piloting the Mechagodzilla, and quickly has a personality clash with his superior, Commander Aso(Akira Nakao - Godzilla Final Wars), who mocks him for his hobby, which is Pteranodons.
Speaking of those, a group of archeaological scientists are called out to an Island off Japan that has been a dumping ground for nuclear waste by the Russians. The team, lead by Professor Omae(Yusuje Kawazu - Gamera 3: The Awakening of Iris) and his assistant Azusa(Ryoko Sano - Like The Clouds, Like The Wind), have been called because a perfectly preserved Pteranodon skeleton has been found, along with what appears to be some form of dinosaur egg, which they believe to be that of a pteranodon.
Imagine their surprise when a mutated version of the flying dinosaur attacks their camp, this creature, which Professor Omae dubs 'Rodan', appears to have been hatched from the remnants of another egg they found, somehow via nuclear waste. The creature, which has wings that create powerful winds, has it's attack cut short when, out of nowhere, Godzilla arrives and blasts it out of the sky. The pair have a battle, which allows the scientists to escape with the egg on a helicopter back to their lab in Kyoto, with Godzilla killing Rodan just in time to witness them flying away.
Upon hearing of a pteranodon egg being found, Aoki pays the lab a visit, where he takes an immediate liking to Azusa, and basically for an excuse to talk to her again, he steals a sample of a plant found on the egg.
One day, while having lunch at G-Force headquarters, he is joined by everyone's favourite cute psychic girl, Miki Sagusa(Megumi Odaka - Godzilla Vs. Biollante), who declares that she can feel something coming from the plant. She takes it back the ESP school in which she works, and all of the children can hear some form of song coming from the plant. They record it, and present it to Professor Omae and Azusa, but playing it seems to stir something within the egg, which hatches a creature that is anything but a pteranodon, and is in fact, a Godzillasaur.
Sensing his kin, and hearing it's call, Godzilla makes a bee-line for Kyoto, smashing everything in his path. Naturally G-Force launch the Mechagodzilla, in his final test, but Aoki is still at the lab, so a replacement pilot is found. To begin with, the machine has the upper hand. It's many laser cannons and missiles doing Godzilla damage, and it's ability to absorb his atomic ray and fire it back really has him on the ropes. However, what they believe to be one of the machines' greatest weapons backfires, when they launch cables into Godzilla, planning to electrocute him, only for him to let rip his nuclear pulse and send a whole lot more energy charging back up the power lines, shorting out the Mechagodzilla, allowing him to carry on his quest.
However, realising that Baby is what Godzilla is after, the scientists hide him in a sound-proof sealed room, and Godzilla, unable to hear the call anymore, returns to the sea.
Aoki, along with Dr. Asimov(Leo Meneghetti - Dirty Hero), the man who designed Mechagodzilla, decide to combine their ideas, not only enhancing Garuda, but allowing it to dock upon Mechagodzilla's back, creating the ultra-powerful Super-Mechagodzilla. They conduct the repairs necessary to get the Mechagodzilla back on it's feet, and are ready for Godzilla's next appearance.
In addition to this, upon studying Baby, they learn that Godzillasaurs have a second brain in their lower back. Theorising that taking this out would render Godzilla immobile, the army orders Miki to detect and target it for the Mechagodzilla, who will not fire it's power cables directly into this area, crippling the beast. The military also decides not to wait for Godzilla, but to draw him out, using Baby as the bait. However, Baby's cries are not only heard by Godzilla, but Rodan, who it turns out isn't dead at all, and has in fact been further mutated by Godzilla's atomic beam, into a beast sometimes refferred to as Fire Rodan. Fire Rodan heads to Kyoto as well, where it engages Mechagodzilla and Garuda, before being once again, apparently killed.
However, it isn't long before Godzilla arrives, and The Japanese military's plan works, leaving the King of the Monsters an immobile target for the army's attacks. However, at this point the unthinkable happens, Rodan flies over to Godzilla's body, and somehow transfers it's life energy into the beast, sacrificing itself, but rejuvanating Godzilla's body, as well as particles of the creature floating into the sky and melting the coating that protects Mechagodzilla from Godzilla's beam. Without it's greatest defence, and with it's plan of attack out the window, the crew of the Mechgodzilla now have to face up to a dastardly prospect, Godzilla, reincarnated, with the added power provided by Rodan's nuclear energy turning his beam a fiery red, who is very, very angry at being crippled and having his child stolen....
Thankully, Mechagodzilla keeps up the quality of the previous movie, and is a very entertaining movie, pitting flesh and blood against machine. Miki Sagusa is finally given a point, and it's full of cool monsters and machines.
With that said, I have got a number of problems with the film. First of all, the new Mechagodzilla pales in comparison to the original. The old Mechagodzilla was made by invading aliens, and it looked nasty, it had missiles for fingers, and was just a really menacing and imposing machine, one of Toho's best designs. As well as the whole 'human weapon' element just plain not being as cool as the alien invaders, the design of it sucks. It looks like a giant action figure, something out of Power Rangers. Actually, the more cartoony look of it puts me more in mind of Mechani-Kong from King Kong Escapes than Mechagodzilla. It's also never explained exactly why the military had to make their robot look like Godzilla, why not make it humanoid, to represent the humans inside it? the whole Garuda docking onto the back of it element also stinks of Power Rangers, and in general the machine lacks any of the charm or creativity of the old menacing machine. I also don't like the simplified look of it, please explain to me where the hell humans would get plates of metal that size, and that smooth?
The film also suffers from not having any clearly defined villains. The fact that Godzilla's mission to get his kid back might stink of a Gorgo rip-off isn't totally accurate. While I've no doubt Eugene Laurie's movie inspired this, the scientists themselves aren't outright bad or exploiters. They thought the egg was never going to hatch, but at the same time, when Godzilla is heading right for you, blatantly there to get his kin, why in gods name would you try and hide it? give him back the kid!
You see, Godzilla isn't even remotely evil here, in this movie he is more just a wild animal, who, quite understandably, wants his kid back. This makes it very hard to root for the humans, when they are trying to kill a creature that wouldn't even be attacking if you gave him the kid.
Come to think of it, while they aren't the villains, I wasn't keen on the crew of the Mechagodzilla and the whole, 'G-Crusher'(the killing of the second brain) idea. The whole 'there to defend Japan' thing was fair enough, but I really didn't like the scene where they crippled Godzilla. Fighting him to stop the threat was fair enough, but the whole crippling thing and just leaving him there for a while was just plain nasty, I actively wanted him to kick MG's ass at that point.
Yet, with all that said, I can't quite hate Mechagodzilla, mainly because it's packed with awesome action sequences. There is a great Rodan vs Godzilla battle, Godzilla fighting his metal-mirror-image three times, as well as Rodan fighting Mechagodzilla. What's all the better is that all of them are great. Rodan and Godzilla actually fight like animals, throttling and biting each other, and there is a great scene of Rodan fighting Mechagodzilla where the flying monster starts to peck it's eyes out. As well as this, the Garuda is so much cooler and more nimble than the Super X flight vehicles of the Heisei series, and in general, this is one of the most action packed of all the Godzilla movies, and for that alone it's worth watching.
The acting of the film all seems to be decent enough. I mean it would take something special to shine through subtitles or dubbing, and nobody really achieves wonders, but nobody is cringe-inducing either. Possibly the only real standout of the main cast is Ryoko Sano, whose main purpose seems to be adding eye candy to the picture, but I think she deserves credit for acting well and convincingly with the rubber dinosaur that is baby.
The film also marked a bit of a change for Megumi Odaka. While she still doesn't have much to do here, her role is more important to the plot, and it's where, in one scene, she transforms from that cute psychic girl with slightly big ears, to absolutely ravishing. Seriously, she should get a cel from the end of the film, where she is standing on top of the MG escape pod, windswept hair and all, blown up to poster size and framed, because I doubt she will ever appear more gorgeous. Ahem, anyway, the film also carries on Toho's tradition of bringing back actors from it's Sci Fi pictures of the 60s and 70s by giving them cameos, with both Tadao Takashima and Kenji Sahara recieving cameos here. Sadly neither of them matches the great show Akira Takarada put in for Godzilla Vs. Mothra(hell, he should have got his own movie based on that character) it's cool to see them both, and Kaiju Eiga enthusiasts should also take note of a pre-Gamera: Guardian of the Universe Shinobu Nakayama at the start of the film, playing the lady who has been assigned to the Garuda project.
Musically, the film is once again scored by Akira Ifukube, who brings back his themes for Godzilla and Rodan, and comes up with an original piece for Mechagodzilla, seeing as he didn't score the 70s pictures starring the tin-titan, and Masaru Sato's bombastic score probably wouldn't have fit anyway. In general the music, both new and re-worked, is all of the high quality I've come to expect from Ifukube, and it's probably the most flawless thing about the picture. With that said, it does have one minor issue, the re-using of the rather horrible piano-horror music last seen in Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah. While I will probably never be a big fan of this piece of music, it does at least fit the scene it's applied to in this film better, making it easier to take.
The special effects, you see, are a very mixed bag. Godzilla, who looks a little dumpier, but fiercer in the face than in the last movie, still looks pretty good. The suit is realistic enough for the close-ups of him roaring, and while I'm not that fond of the dumpier body, it's workable.
Rodan is mixed as well. In order to make him more sleek and aerodynamic, Rodan is not accompished via a man in a suit at any point of the film. Rodan is a giant puppet, and while his wings do, at times, appear stiff, in Toho's defence, flying monsters must have always been an inconvenience, hell even Spielberg and his millions avoided Pteranodons and Pterodactyls in Jurassic Park. When in the Sky, Rodan actually does look pretty impressive, and when he transforms into Fire Rodan, with his flesh a red colour, he looks even cooler. Sadly the close-ups of his head don't hold up as well as Godzilla's, although in general, for a 1993 movie with a moderate budget, he is quite impressive.
Baby is also hit and miss. His head looks and moves nicely, and while he isn't fearsome, he isn't too cute either. When seen full body though, the suit looks pretty lame, with it's over-sized feet looking truly quite silly.
Easily the most disappointing aspect of the film though, is , once again, Mechagodzilla. While I do like the way his knees move like they are moving parts, in general, not only is his design weak, but he looks far too rubbery. The 70s Mechagodzilla was one of Toho's finest creations, actually appearing at times to be made of metal. As I said, this thing looks more like an action figure.
This is a real shame, because the miniatures are of a high quality, and the general little things of a Godzilla picture are all accomplished well.
While many laud this film with the title of being the best Heisei series movie, personally I don't think it comes close to either Godzilla Vs. Biollante or Godzilla Vs. Mothra, and while I realise it was heading in a completely different direction to the latter, with this being much more of a Sci-Fi, boys toys picture, I still don't feel it's anywhere near the strongest film. While you could claim ambiguity as a positive in terms of lacking outright heroes and villains, it doesn't seem like that's what the film was aiming for, and it really just comes accross as being ill-thought out. While I don't hold this film in anywhere near as high a regard as I do the two aforementioned films, it is a hell of a lot better than Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah, and it does feature possibly the greatest action sequences seen in the 20+ entries of the series.
So with all that said, 3/5 and recommended is, I feel, quite just for the film. It had potential to be great, but ultimately, it turned out quite good at best. It still comes highly recommended, especially to Godzilla fans, but it isn't a series entry I would use to try and convert anyone to the genre.
Year: 1993
Titles: Gojira VS Mekagojira
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla
Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla II
Godzilla Vs. Super Mechagodzilla
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